22 Jun: SL: Catalans Dragons v Hull FC KO 5pm (UK Time) (TV)

[Cheshire Setter]

At this stage you could make a strong guesstimate of the five being:

1) Saints

2) Warrington 

3) Hull

4) Wigan

5) Salford 

As bad as Wigan have been they have the squad and the experience to sneak a GF win again.   No cup distraction either.

Who’d have thunk it with Hull a month or so ago...?

 

[snapski]

Hull will win it this season, if everyone stays fit.

[Cheshire Setter]

1 minute ago, snapski said:

Hull will win it this season, if everyone stays fit.

If that happens there’ll be so many ‘Radford In/Out’ debates over the course of a season that he’ll get sued by the songwriter of the Hokey Cokey.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

On 20/06/2019 at 13:17, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

Hull by 40, Catalans are as much a rabble now as we were when we faced them at home, it would go some way to correct the horrible performances and heavy defeats earlier in the season including the pasting we got off them.

LOL, I wish I'd gone down to the bookies for that prediction!

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

14 minutes ago, snapski said:

Hull will win it this season, if everyone stays fit.

The cup or the league, I think Saints and Warrington at least will have a lot to say about that! Maybe you should put a few bob on us?

[DavidM]

Pathetic from Catalans . Defence , what’s that ? Well played hull though  some very nice tries 

[Cheshire Setter]

Hull appear to like the warm weather don’t they?   Good bet for the Cup in the Wembley sunshine again? 

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

24 minutes ago, Cheshire Setter said:

If that happens there’ll be so many ‘Radford In/Out’ debates over the course of a season that he’ll get sued by the songwriter of the Hokey Cokey.

Like McDermott at Leeds, just because you win a trophy doesn't necessarily mean the coach is the right person for the job. Next season looks like another poop or bust in terms of personnel, so few homegrown players in the XIII which weakens the overall squad. If we get injuries then it'll be back to scrambling around playing inexperienced/poorly developed Hull players, it's really not the way forward as a long term strategy, we know this as that's exactly what happened in the 1980s under Bunting and Radford since he took charge. Under Bunting we massively under-performed despite having the biggest squad in the league by far and a ton of international players.

Radford is an average coach with high end resources, probability says you'll hit a rich vein now and again, so far in 5 seasons he's made the play-offs twice only, not really good enough IMHO. We are simply massively inconsistent, it's great when you put a decent run together, a 4 match tournament is probably perfect for us, winning the league however is a different proposition altogether.

[Agbrigg]

Well played hull some great trys. Also in very good form at right time of season.

[Faithful1865]

15 minutes ago, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

Like McDermott at Leeds, just because you win a trophy doesn't necessarily mean the coach is the right person for the job. Next season looks like another poop or bust in terms of personnel, so few homegrown players in the XIII which weakens the overall squad. If we get injuries then it'll be back to scrambling around playing inexperienced/poorly developed Hull players, it's really not the way forward as a long term strategy, we know this as that's exactly what happened in the 1980s under Bunting and Radford since he took charge. Under Bunting we massively under-performed despite having the biggest squad in the league by far and a ton of international players.

Radford is an average coach with high end resources, probability says you'll hit a rich vein now and again, so far in 5 seasons he's made the play-offs twice only, not really good enough IMHO. We are simply massively inconsistent, it's great when you put a decent run together, a 4 match tournament is probably perfect for us, winning the league however is a different proposition altogether.

The voice in the wilderness!!

[Rupert Prince]

Cats have been inconsistent and now they are moving backwards after the Barcca game.  Injuries ?  Or just way too much that their heads are miles away?

Giving away 50 points at home is no good at all. Something wrong somewhere

[getdownmonkeyman]

I can’t see MacNamara surviving this.

 

[Rupert Prince]

4 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

How did this team beat St Helens and Warrington on the way to winning last year's Challenge Cup?

I had to remind myself... but in fact Cats have already beaten Saints and Wire so far this season, never mind 2018.   There is something wrong ... not so much the losses themelves but some of the very bad results.

[Hullfan]

36 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Pathetic from Catalans . Defence , what’s that ? Well played hull though  some very nice tries 

So was it good attack or poor defence? 

[DavidM]

6 minutes ago, Hullfan said:

So was it good attack or poor defence? 

Both , I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive . Some of the defence was really pathetic but hull took full advantage and exploited it to the full . And there were also tries that were expertly executed regardless 

[paulwalker71]

52 minutes ago, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

Like McDermott at Leeds, just because you win a trophy doesn't necessarily mean the coach is the right person for the job. Next season looks like another poop or bust in terms of personnel, so few homegrown players in the XIII which weakens the overall squad. If we get injuries then it'll be back to scrambling around playing inexperienced/poorly developed Hull players, it's really not the way forward as a long term strategy, we know this as that's exactly what happened in the 1980s under Bunting and Radford since he took charge. Under Bunting we massively under-performed despite having the biggest squad in the league by far and a ton of international players.

Radford is an average coach with high end resources, probability says you'll hit a rich vein now and again, so far in 5 seasons he's made the play-offs twice only, not really good enough IMHO. We are simply massively inconsistent, it's great when you put a decent run together, a 4 match tournament is probably perfect for us, winning the league however is a different proposition altogether.

Out of interest, if Hull win the GF this season will you give Lee Radford any credit?

[MZH]

13 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

Out of interest, if Hull win the GF this season will you give Lee Radford any credit?

I was just thinking the same myself. I've been a critic of Radford myself and had gotten to the point where I just wanted rid of him.

Playing well now doesn't excuse some of the pathetic performances that we put in at times, or the losing streak or the record defeats. But you have to give credit where it's due. We look like we have put all that behind us and properly switched on now. We are playing with confidence and we look dangerous right across the field. 

Whatever you think of him and his methods (and there are things to criticise) he deserves alot of credit for turning a team that had lost 13 in a row into what we are seeing now. I think we can win something again this year, I really do. Hopefully it's the big one.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

40 minutes ago, Faithful1865 said:

The voice in the wilderness!!

Nope, talking actualities, stuff that has already happened, ergo FACTS. Yes we might win silverware from time to time and that's great, but the approach since Radford took over has been to buy in from outside the club in a big way and not develop nor give our youngsters a chance thus they stagnate and end up getting turfed out. Fash and Matongo are the closest to first XVII that have debuted under Radford, that's it, no-one else in nearly 6 years!

The last coach to actually trust to the youth was Gentle, he got us to 5th and a Wembley final with a ridiculous injury crisis and a bunch of kids playing most of the season, lost the final to naivety, inexperience and generally just not dealing with the conditions.

Some people might like boom or bust, but it's not for me, Radford has had 5 full seasons, done okay in short bursts but buying talent externally to form 85% of your run on/strongest XIII isn't sustainable, as we saw in 2017/18, back-loaded contracts, contracts that kept over the hill players on another year due a promise the previous year that part of the big salaried players would get paid off through profits from investments with the club sponsor (which fell through badly) 

You think this is how we should be doing our long term planning/strategy to be competitive and financially stable, two x 4 match comp wins in 5 years suggests not.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

22 minutes ago, paulwalker71 said:

Out of interest, if Hull win the GF this season will you give Lee Radford any credit?

IF we win, it'll be despite his input not because of it, I'll say well done coach but I honestly don't think he's got much to do with it. He's admitted himself he's clueless how to address the mental lapses, ergo what the players are doing or not doing is nothing to do with him, that's very clear and from his own mouth. The real leader is Ellis, without him we've been at sea on and off the pitch hence why Radford brought him back from retirement.

We continually display the exact same weaknesses in both attack and defence that we had since his first season in charge but when the players do turn up and we don't have any/many injuries then we can be the best team in the comp. We are blessed with some fantastic players and at the moment they are on the up, ask Radford why that is, he won't be able to give you an answer.

I'd love us to win the GF, we could do that, we could win the CC too, all ifs and buts, but no, I won't give the coach much credit.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

21 minutes ago, MZH said:

I was just thinking the same myself. I've been a critic of Radford myself and had gotten to the point where I just wanted rid of him.

Playing well now doesn't excuse some of the pathetic performances that we put in at times, or the losing streak or the record defeats. But you have to give credit where it's due. We look like we have put all that behind us and properly switched on now. We are playing with confidence and we look dangerous right across the field. 

Whatever you think of him and his methods (and there are things to criticise) he deserves alot of credit for turning a team that had lost 13 in a row into what we are seeing now. I think we can win something again this year, I really do. Hopefully it's the big one.

Why does he? He himself has said he has zero idea how to change the mentality of the players, we all know that Ellis is the one who motivates the team on the field at least. Getting pretty much every senior player back has aided our turn in form and a few wins breeds confidence, but that's nowt to do with Radford by his own admittance.

[Hullfan]

So who gets the blame, for the wins and the defeats? 

[Old Frightful]

Jeez Denton, I'm certainly no Radford fan as practically everyone on this forum will be able to tell you but your stance is getting, no, already is, very tiresome.

Can you just be a Hull FC fan who is enjoying the moment please?, sooner or later we'll all be on a downer again probably.

We've witnessed some good stuff recently, I was talking to Ullman the other night and we both felt that our team could be on the verge of something big. Let's just back them to the hilt, it's been quite a while since our solitary GF appearance.

 

[Hemel Stag]

5 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

Yep.... Landlord here is on notice to switch the cricket over at 5pm.... Skolars game streamed on this phone in the wait and cricket updates on notification...... Really feels like a great time to be a sports fan ..... but that could be I'm still drunk from Thursday night at ET! 

The Trouble & Strife gave me some earache when Hull & Dragons finished and I immediately switched to Toronto v Toulouse, I told her "it's half time luv, only 20 mins to go" 

[Clogiron]

You have got to wonder how that team conceed 50+ in 5 games what a enigma. As for Catalans they looked knackered, obviously the team from Costa-del-Hull was far more suited to them!

How much longer is Guasch going let the situation continue.  This was going to be a big season for them, lots of big, new sponsors on board, crowds returning, the cup to defend, at a high price, and the Neu Camp game, but with the exception of the latter its all gone #### up. They might be fourth but are miles away in terms of performance, there big signings Tompkins & Smith look like candidates for the knackers yard than team leaders, all in all a shambles

[Clogiron]

Forgot to add as much as I dislike having the referee bellowing over the game I thought Hicks was exellent.